News

SARAJEVO/TIRANA – Western Balkans economy ministers adopted today 11
targets for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth in the region, to be
reached by 2020. The commitment was made at the ministerial conference
of the Regional Cooperation Council (RCC)'s South East Europe Investment
Committee (SEEIC), held in Tirana today.

The targets form the basis for a regional South East Europe 2020 (SEE
2020) strategy, inspired by Europe 2020 strategy, but adjusted to the
specific realities of the region. They include increasing regional GDP
per capita from 38% to 46% of the EU-27 average; growing the region’s
total value of trade in goods and services by more than 130%; and
reducing the trade deficit from 14.1 to 11.6 per cent of the regional
GDP.

Furthermore, the ministerial declaration aims at increasing
intra-regional trade in goods by more than 230% to 42 billion euro, the
overall foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows to 7.5 billion euro, and
the GDP per person employed by 33%. Other targets seek to increase the
rate of enterprise creation by 20%, exports of goods and services per
capita from the region by 130%, and the overall employment rate by 12%.
They envisage adding 300,000 highly educated people to the region’s
workforce, and increasing government effectiveness by 20% by 2020.

Opening the meeting, Edmond Haxhinasto, Deputy Prime Minister and
Minister of Economy, Trade and Energy of the Republic of Albania, said
he was honoured to co-chair the SEEIC and extended Albania’s full
support to the work of the Committee and the RCC as such.

“I call upon my colleagues from South East Europe to continue the
close cooperation and strengthen bonds with all stakeholders in this
venture. Building on the achievements, we anticipate to address
effectively the region’s economic development priorities, with the
ultimate aim to make our countries more competitive, while bringing them
closer to EU membership.”

The RCC Secretary General, Hido Biscevic, underlined that the
adoption of the headline targets will require considerable effort and
political will among the countries as well as support from the
international community.

“The benefits are obvious, though, as a coherent and comprehensive
framework for regional cooperation is put forth with clear indicators
for measuring progress; a set of policy targets and measures are
identified to help countries anchor reform over the long-term; and a
clear platform is laid out for interaction with donors to the region,
with identification of needs and gaps.”

The ministerial conference was co-organized by the RCC’s South East
Europe Investment Committee and the Government of the Republic of
Albania, current co-chair of the SEEIC.

The ministers committed to strengthening economic and social
development across South East Europe and integrating the region more
closely with the European Union. They emphasized the importance of a
continued private-public sector dialogue and cooperation at national,
regional and European level to help meet the SEE 2020 headline targets.

Ambassador Ettore Sequi, Head of Delegation of the European Union to
Albania, underlined that the European Commission considers the RCC’s
South East Europe Investment Committee a flagship regional project and
an essential part of the enhanced economic dialogue.

“The SEE 2020 targets represent a milestone on the way towards a
fully-fledged regional strategy for an integrated, smart, sustainable
and inclusive growth within a good governance framework. The European
Union fully supports these efforts, which will contribute to the
fulfilment of the economic criteria for accession.”

The economy ministers called on the EU to support SEE 2020 within the
enlargement process, and tasked the RCC SEEIC with preparing the SEE
2020 Strategy and Action Plan, containing a roadmap for implementation.
The document will be adopted at the next ministerial meeting at the end
of 2013.